Puppet Up!

On Saturday, I went to the Puppet Up! - Uncensored event that those of you who read Mark Evanier's site have seen him rave about for a while.  It's put on by the Jim Henson organization (or more properly their Henson Alternatives division) and takes place once or twice a year at their Hollywood studio.  This is an old facility that in its early incarnation was Charlie Chaplin's studio.  It seems to seat about 250, and though general admission they assign tables when you arrive.  So after visiting in the courtyard for a while, I headed off to my table front-and-center, and Mark and his group went off to theirs.

It's a bit difficult to describe well, since it's unique.  Basically it's improv with Muppets.  Though they also have some prepared material and re-create a couple of classic Muppet sketches from the past.  (For our show, it was "I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face" and "Java.")  It's all done out in the open, so you can see the work being done by the actors, but there are monitors, as well, in case you want to watch like on television.  They begin the evening with a very funny film about the history of puppetry.  And there's even some digital puppetry tossed in there, as well.

(You can read more about it and check out some behind-the-scenes videos here on their website.  And also probably get on their mailing list to let you know when they're dong their next show.)

It's awfully entertaining and very well done.  There's no video (at least yet) of last night's who, but I've found a couple videos where they do the same premise as two sketches on Saturday, just with totally different results.  Though the show has "Uncensored" in the title, and there is definitely off-color material, it's not a raunchy night, were the actors do their best to be as dirty as possible.  Rather, they go for fun and creativity, but being "uncensored" frees them up if that's where they scene most-properly goes.

This first is introduced by host and the evening's director Patrick Bristow (who is an actor, and you may recognize him from the Ellen show when she had a sitcom).  It's an improv Film Noir, where the audience shouts out suggestions for what the various foundations will be.  We had a Film Noir, as well, so clearly that's one of their go-to premises.

As host Bristow says (and the audience shouts with him) when calling the next group of actors waiting off the the side to perform, "Puppet up!!"

This was probably my favorite premise of the night.  Not that some other sketches weren't funnier, but I like the idea behind this the most, and it was nothing I'd seen at an improve night.  Host Bristow explains the premise, but the video misses some of the opening, and so it might not be fully clear.  Bristow has gone into the audience to find a couple -- most likely married.  He then asks them questions about how they met and their first date, and then the Muppet actors have to improv that first date.  Making it particularly fun is a nice twist, where the two real-life subjects get to ring a bell or hit a buzzer when the improv actor get something "right" or "wrong" about the date.  My only quibble here is that on Saturday the sketch went much longer and was a long hoot.  This is more of a short hoot...

​Puppet Up!